|
Post by pandawdy on Jun 10, 2022 16:58:06 GMT -5
Why does Liberty Basic use a virtual machine? Is it for portability?
|
|
|
Post by Chris Iverson on Jun 10, 2022 17:17:53 GMT -5
Liberty BASIC is written in Smalltalk, and the Smalltalk language and specification was (essentially) designed around being implemented as a virtual machine. (It's more complicated than that, with details in the linked Wikipedia article, but it's true for all modern Smalltalk derivations.)
|
|
|
Post by Carl Gundel on Jun 10, 2022 17:55:44 GMT -5
Liberty BASIC is written in Smalltalk, and the Smalltalk language and specification was (essentially) designed around being implemented as a virtual machine. (It's more complicated than that, with details in the linked Wikipedia article, but it's true for all modern Smalltalk derivations.) That's a good answer. Most Smalltalk implementations run on a virtual machine, and Liberty BASIC v4.5.1 (and earlier versions) is developed on such a version of Smalltalk. As for the question of portability, yes, the version of Smalltalk (called VisualSmalltalk) is cross platform compatible between Windows and OS/2. OS/2 is not a popular OS anymore, even though there are new releases of it (named ArcaOS) and it can be purchased. See www.arcanoae.com/ if you're curious about that. Liberty BASIC v5.0 is developed using another Smalltalk called VisualWorks. See www.cincomsmalltalk.com/main/products/visualworks/ if you're dying to know. Best Smalltalk IMHO! VisualWorks also uses a virtual machine. It is portable between Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Raspian (the Linux for the Raspberry Pi), Solaris, and PowerPC AIX.
|
|